Future looks Orange for T-Mobile business customers
Everything Everywhere will stop signing up new corporate customers for its T-Mobile brand, concentrating instead on the Orange brand.
The company, formed from the merger of T-Mobile and Orange's UK operations and officially launched on 1 July, issued a statement on Monday in which it provided some details about its business-to-business plans. These include de-emphasising T-Mobile as a brand for large companies, although existing contracts will be honoured and even made renewable.
"The Orange brand has had more focus on large business customers, which is demonstrated by its relative scale and market penetration, so [it] will be the brand that targets new large business customers," the company said in its statement. Both brands will continue to sign up small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, it added.
Existing large customers should see no change in their relationship, according to the statement.
"Everything Everywhere is already investing to deliver the best platform for service, propositions and account management for mid-sized and corporate customers," the company said. "Contracts and the level and quality of support will remain the same for all of these businesses. In addition, they will enjoy direct and ongoing relationships with service and account management teams."
An Everything Everywhere spokesperson explained that there will be no forced cut-off date for corporate customers currently signed up to T-Mobile UK contracts. "We will continue to support T-Mobile customers for the life of their contract and, at the point of re-signing, they can re-sign on Orange or remain on T-Mobile," the spokesperson said.
As part of the merger between the two entities, the mobile networks of T-Mobile and Orange are being brought together into a single network that is being shared with 3 — a rival operator that before the merger had a network-sharing agreement with T-Mobile UK.
According to Everything Everywhere's spokesperson, there are no plans at present to cut T-Mobile UK's corporate sales and support staff, or indeed any staff from the combined organisation. Restructuring has taken place at the senior management level, but the structure of the rest of the organisation will not be reviewed until the autumn.
In its statement, Everything Everywhere said it is planning look for companies to work with on new products and services for businesses.
"Whether for hardware, software or companies from non-technology fields, we want to work with the very best on partnerships that innovate and provide our customers with something new," business vice president Martin Stiven said in the statement. "At Everything Everywhere we are throwing open our doors to partners who can help us achieve this goal."
Everything Everywhere can already draw on the R&D capabilities of its parent companies, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, the company noted. It identified machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity — a crucial part of the 'internet of things', HD voice and new markets such as healthcare as areas it will focus on.
The company's spokesperson declined to comment on specific new business services from Everything Everywhere, other than to say a new converged mobile and broadband service will be announced "in the next few months".